There I found Saria and Al taking a break as well.
ăAh, Seiichi! Good job out there~!ă
ăYeah, you did great.ă
I took off the mantle that I had on me and let a single sigh escape.
ăPhewâŚâŚâŚâŚâŚIâll go die for a bit!ă
ăHold on hold on hold on!ă
As I said that and tried to jump out the window, Al stopped me with all of her power.
ăWhyâd you say something so outrageous with such a refreshing smile!?ă
ăLet me go, Al! Itâs already hopeless⌠such a cringe lineâŚâŚ UGGAAAAHHH!!!! KILL MEEEEEE!!!!ă
ăCalm down, idiot! Youâre not the only one bearing the shame here, me too! In fact, who can even kill you anyway!?ă
ăGood point!ă
ăEh, youâre at that level!?ă
Helen was wide-eyed as she heard the banter between me and Al.
DAMN IT AAAALLLLL! Even though I wanted to erase that shameful memory by ending my life! I didnât think my body would hinder me in such a wayâŚ! Thank you very much for saving me all the time! But, can you just let me take the controls for a bit?
In fact, in the off-chance that I did die, how do I put it⌠I feel like Heaven, Hell, and especially Netherworld-san would say ăAh, please donât come hereă to me and would just straight deny my death, leaving me to continue to live. Or rather, it is also the sad truth that I can no longer be surprised by that much. I-, I can still die from old age, right!? Please, I ask of you, as a single human!
Having calmed down a bit after Al held me back, I muttered wearily.
ăJust who was it⌠the idiot who suggested doing a Cosplay Cafe⌠Iâll kill himâŚă
ăăăSeiichiăăă
ăGohuk!ă
I punched my own face with all I had. Yeah, it was all my fault.
ăWell, ainât it fine. Umm⌠you were cool, you knowâŚ?ă
ăYeah, yeah, you look so good, Seiichi!ă
ăAl⌠SariaâŚă
And the two of them comforted the likes of me.
âŚSure, there was no doubt that it was embarrassing as hell, but I was glad that the students that visited our cafe still smiled and enjoyed their time here.
It was also nice to see a new side, or rather, a new appearance of Saria and the girls⌠At the end of the day, I was happy with the result.
After sighed for the second time, I put on a bitter smile.
ăIf you two said that to me, then I canât say anything further⌠thanks.ă
ăYeah! Letâs do our best for the next shift!ă
ăYosh, Iâll go die for a bit after all.ă
Reminded that there were still works to do, I went to flee from the scene, only to be held down by Al and Saria.
âââ
ăHeeh⌠The students sure do a lot of different programs, looking at them like this.ă
ăYouâre right~. Ah, that looks delicious!ă
After I somehow went through all my shifts, bearing unspeakable shame in the while, I was now looking around the school with Saria.
Al and the other girls were either looking around with different pairs or still not finished with their shifts.
I had never been able to properly enjoy a school festival during my middle school and high school on Earth, mostly because I was bullied, but once I looked around like this, I felt a festive energy different than ones at summer festivals and such.
The food the students sold was reasonably tasty.
Time to time, Saria and I stopped by a food stall to get some and continued our walk with food in hand, until we passed by a certain booth.
ăHouse of Divination?ă
ăHeeh⌠so they do fortune telling too.ă
It was something for an Academy Festival after all, I wasnât sure how serious they were with it. But, still, it sounded interesting. After all, I never had my fortune told back on Earth.
ăWhile it is a special occasion anyway, letâs give it a try.ă
ăYeah!ă
The House of Divination that took one whole classroom for itself was dark inside, with the windows covered with black curtains and some violet light motes floating around.
ăAah, welcome to my House of Divination⌠Please, take a seat.ă
Prompted by a person dressed in a hooded robe so their face was unseen, Saria and I sat down in front of another person dressed in a robe more lavish than their peers.
There was a crystal sitting in front of that person, which I presume would be used for the divination.
ăThank you for coming. Now, what shall I divine for you? The affinity between you two? Your future? Or your essence?ă
ăUmmâŚâŚă
It seemed like they could divine more than I expected, so I involuntarily fell into a thought.
Saria, then, raised her hand.
ăHere! Then, please tell me the affinity between Seiichi and I!ă
ăSaria?ă
ăEhehehe. I wonder how will it be? Ah, Seiichi, what will you have?ă
Since Saria would have our affinity divined, I would give more thought into this.
ăHmm⌠Then, the Essence? thing please.ă
I understood what Affinity and Future meant to express, but I couldnât put my finger on the Essence thingy, so I chose it.
ăI understand⌠I have received your order. If so, then I shall start with the missy and divine the affinity between you twoâŚ!ă
Saying so, the lavish-robe person put both of their handsâânot on the crystal, but on our heads.
ăKIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!!!ă
ăYouâre not using the crystal!?ă
ăIâve seen it!ă
ăAnd fast!?ă
Ignoring my situational retort, the robed student opened their mouth in excitement.
ăYour affinity is as high as can be! Or rather, I have never seen a pair with such a high affinity before! Your future together is stable and bright ahead! May you eternally explode, damn it!ă
ăThatâs way too unreasonable!ă
I canât tell if youâre blessing us or cursing us with that!
However, being told that Saria and I had an excellent affinity was⌠it makes me happy. No, it makes me super happy.
When I unconsciously shifted my gaze to Saria, she also looked at me, and showed a little smile shyly.
ăEhehe⌠weâre always going to be together, right!ă
ăâŚThatâs right.ă
No matter what happens, Saria and I will always be together.
Just by thinking that again made me glad to come here.
ăNn! Ahem, ahem! Can you please stop pulling your lovey dovey card here!?ă
ăAh, I-, Iâm sorryâŚă
I didnât mean to be lovey-dovey, but⌠I understand, Iâm reflecting on it.
ăWell, fine enough⌠Now, I shall look into the essence of the man.ă
ăP-, please do.ă
The robed student this time didnât even put their hand on my head, they just stared into my face. No, you really donât use the crystal? Itâs quite big, you know?
The robed person that had been staring at my face made a startled expression then backed away with tremendous vigor.
ăW-, what even are you!? Youâre, like⌠I donât even know how to phrase it, youâre just absurd! Itâs like every possibility in the name of ăHumană is crammed inside a single vessel, and yet that vessel is deviating from the principle of this world⌠Nay, not even that. Youâre a single individual secluded from the other innumerable worlds and dimensions as an ăIndividuală of a higher tier!? Aah, fuck! My vocab is too limited to explain! Or rather, who can even explain this!? What are you even expecting from some studentâs booth for a freaking Academy Festival!?ă
ăF-, forgive me!?ă
I didnât know for sure, but I got scolded. No, really, I donât know what happened.
Also, for someone who says itâs just something for the Academy Festival, arenât you doing a surprisingly good divination?
ăA-, at any rate! I canât divine you any further! Or rather, nobody can! You at least need a True GodâŚâŚHmmmm!? E-, even a True God canât!?!? THEN WHAT THE HELL IS HE!!!!ă
ăăâŚâŚăă
Looking at the hooded student grasping their head in frustration, Saria and I exchanged looks.
Staying here any further wouldnât do anything good, so we paid for the divination and sneaked out together.
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